


Time Enough

by Sally M (sallymn)



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Gen, Series 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-02
Updated: 2010-01-02
Packaged: 2017-10-05 16:42:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sallymn/pseuds/Sally%20M
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the end of Horizon, Avon had some excuses to make. Or not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time Enough

**Time Enough**

****

"So now we've got the time, Avon, tell us..."

It was Vila, of course. Vila, who never knew when letting well enough alone was the better part of valour. "Why _did_ you choose come down to Horizon for us, Avon?"

He was all too aware of the sudden hush, the badly-hidden attention - Jenna's narrow, sliding, distrustful glance, Gan's round-eyed attempt to look incurious, Cally's stiffened back and half-visible curve of smugly knowing, telepath smile.

Thank God Blake wasn't here. For once, just for once, the man's timing was impeccable.

"You thought I would not?" He spoke dryly, with just enough bite to dissuade even the most stubbornly obtuse, he imagined.

A pity, then, that he imagined wrongly, and that Vila yet _again _took obtuse to previously unimaginable levels. "Come on, you've been talking about what you'd do if the ship was yours for months now."

And that Jenna could not resist biting back. "Are you saying you _didn't_ think of leaving, Avon?"

"Of course I thought of it." After all, he had a reputation to uphold. "Most seriously."

"Then -?" She smirked. "Don't tell me your better nature rose up against it."

Now _that_ stung. Who did she think she was talking to, one of Blake's noble dimwits? "If I had such a thing, Jenna, I'm sure self-interest would have prevented any... rising. No, I regret to say it was self-interest that rescued you." The roll of her eyes that said _I knew it!_ reassured him - as did Vila's cheeky, _knew you weren't being noble_ grin and Gan's long-suffering look. The way Cally's smile slipped a little was... oddly, not so satisfying.

But necessary. What with the debacle on Horizon, he was even more determined that they all understood where they stood with him... which was nowhere. Nowhere at all.

Thank all the gods of creation Blake, so determined not to understand that, _wasn't_ here.

"I may not be an Alpha genius," it was Vila again, who never ever knew when to let well enough alone, "but for the life of me, I can't see how getting shot at makes for self-interest, even by your standards."

"You heard what Orac said. Three Federation pursuit ships, a direct attack... it was too late to leave, so I had no better option but to fight, and for that a full crew is needed. It was simply a matter of timing, Vila, you should not rely on it for the future."

Vila shrugged. "Doesn't make much sense to me."

"You astound me. Any intelligent man could have seen that there was _not _enough time to escape."

"Two hours wasn't enough?" Gan - a mentally sluggish block at the best of times - seemed to have latched onto _that_ slip of Avon's tongue rather too quickly this time. "The two hours you wasted coming for us, I mean."

And damn it, that satisfied little smile was back on Cally's face, he could almost feel her approval - which annoyed him even more than Blake's did.

"Well now," he slid a razor's edge into his voice, "if _you _believe it was wasted, I shan't argue the point. Let's just agree that... the arrival of the those ships was - good timing."

"For us, you mean," Vila tried for the last word.

Avon smiled, and didn't answer.  


  
**\- the end -**   



End file.
